A virtual machine in a virtual computing infrastructure can run on a host device that comprises physical hardware and virtualization software. One or more applications that can run within the virtual machine can generate data that may need to be backed up to a backup server. One or more backup policies may exist on the backup server that can indicate a quality of service of the backup. Often, policies are specific to an application. Virtual machine backup applications of the prior art do not have a way to automatically discover the applications on a virtual machine from within the virtual machine. Virtual machine backup applications of the prior art also do not associate a virtual machine universally unique identifier with a backup policy with one or more of the applications from within the virtual machine. In addition, some applications may need application-specific pre-backup or post-backup actions performed. Virtual machine backup applications of the prior art also do not have a way to automatically perform application-specific pre- and/or post-backup actions on the applications from within the virtual machine.